31 March 2025
We examine the details of the Bill, how it could impact electric vehicle (EV) drivers, and how EVA England is acting with our partners on a rare opportunity to make EV charging better for us all.
The Planning and Infrastructure Bill was first announced in the July 2024 King’s Speech, marking the State Opening of Parliament and the Labour Government coming into power. It seeks to overhaul the UK planning system in an attempt to streamline planning processes so major infrastructure projects can happen more quickly and efficiently. It is inherently linked to the Government’s goal of building an additional 1.5m million homes in England and fast tracking 150 major economic infrastructure projects by the end of this Parliament.
The Government has five aims for the Bill:
Much of the Government’s growth agenda rests on the success of its planning reforms and the Planning and Infrastructure Bill is central to that. Indeed its ‘centrepiece’ status was cemented by the Chancellor in her Spring Statement last week, citing Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) projections that Government’s reforms will “lead to housebuilding reaching a 40-year high of 305,000 by the end of the forecast period”.
The Bill in its current form contains provisions (these are lines in the Bill that allow the Government to regulate for certain things, now or in the future) directly aimed at EV charging infrastructure. Through a series of proposed changes, it aims to make it quicker, easier, and cheaper to install EV charging points by removing the need for streetworks licences where the works are capable of being authorised by permits (which are much simpler).
The Government has assessed that waiting times for street works licensing approval for installing chargepoints takes several months on average and costs EV chargepoint operators between £500 and £1,000 per licence.
The Bill proposes that EV chargepoint operators should instead be allowed to use permits when installing EV Charging points -permits for works that last 10 days or less, as chargepoint installations do, will cost between £45 and £130, and take 2-5 days to approve.
We mentioned the Bill passed its Second Reading stage in Parliament on the 24 March, marking the ‘starting gun’ to Parliamentary scrutiny over the Bill and numerous opportunities to make relevant inclusions to the Bill where appropriate.
EVA England is supportive of the EV-related measures announced in the Bill. Removing the complex licensing requirements for chargepoints installers will do much to make it quicker and cheaper to get chargepoints in the ground, which should in turn benefit the driver.
However, in its current form, the Bill is a missed opportunity to tackle other real planning barriers to EV charging. A number of small additions could bring urgently needed reforms to grant more drivers the ‘right to charge’ and allow them to access EV charging more fairly and evenly:
To push for these changes, EVA England has teamed up with a coalition of leading organisations in the EV sector, including New AutoMotive (a think tank and data consultancy) and the REA (a not-for-profit renewable energy and clean tech trade association). This started with a note raising awareness of these issues.
Over the coming weeks, our coalition will aim to work with Parliamentarians for these proposed changes to make their way into the Planning and Infrastructure Bill – a rare opportunity to directly tackle some of the concerns that drivers have, and that are preventing more UK drivers from making the switch to electric.
A Parliamentary Bill is a proposal for a new law, put forward usually by an individual member of the House (an MP) or, in the majority of cases, by the Government itself.
In order to become law, the Bill must undergo a series of strict Parliamentary steps through both the Houses of Commons and the House of Lords before receiving formal approval from the Crown, known as the Royal Ascent. A Bill can begin its life in either the House of Commons or the House of Lords depending on who it is presented by.
The process begins with the First Reading, where the Bill is presented before Parliament, followed by the Second Reading – a key first opportunity for MPs and Peers to debate the proposed changes. If approved by Parliament, the Bill then makes its way onto Committee Stage: in its most common format, a Public Bill Committee made up of MPs will scrutinise the Bill line by line. This is the first opportunity for Members of Parliament to propose their own suggested changes to the text, known as amendments.
Following Committee scrutiny, the Bill enters Report Stage where further amendments can be made. The Third Reading follows this stage, where the final version of the Bill is debated and voted on. If the Bill passes this stage, it makes its way over to the second House (the Commons or Lords, depending on where it originated). This is where a back and forth between the Houses – known as Parliamentary ‘ping pong’ – can occur, whereby either House can disagree with aspects of the Bill, reject changes and propose new amendments. To move on to the final stage, both House must agree on the final version of the Bill. Where there is concerted disagreement, it is common practice for the House of Lords to back down first and the House of Commons, as the directly elected body, to have the final say.
Once the final text is agreed, the Bill is sent for Royal Ascent to be made a formal Act of Parliament by the reigning monarch. The Bill then becomes law and is enforceable. While some laws take immediate effect, others are enacted at a later date by the Government.
This blog post was originally released in our March Members’ Newsletter as an early-access feature for our members. These explainer posts are designed to give members a deeper look into current issues shaping EV policy.
To gain early access to insights like this, you can support EVA England by becoming a member today.